Customer Spotlight: Gregg Blanchard and the Fezzari Catania

1) What has been the highlight of your biking career so far?
Finishing LOTOJA last year. Not the time I was hoping for, but still 100% awesome. (Way to go Gregg! For those of you who haven’t heard of LOTOJA, it’s a 206-mile race that runs from Logan, Utah to Jackson, Wyoming “LOgan TO JAckson.” It is the longest, one-day USCF-sanctioned bicycle race in the United States and includes 10k+ feet of climbing).

2) How many miles did you ride last week?
Lets see, just over 135.

3) What is your favorite race?
To watch? The Tour of Utah. Super fun to be that close to the action and brush shoulders with pros. To ride? LOTOJA.

4) When did you start biking?
I rode mountain bikes a lot in high school, but picked up road biking in 2006.

5) What was your first bike?
A Windsor Wellington 3.0. The thing probably weighs 25 pounds but did the trick for 5,000+ miles.

6) What bike setup do you ride now?
Fezzari Catania.

7) Why do you bike?
Fitness, for one. Its a great way to stay in shape. But riding is also incredibly fun. Long solos where you can quietly enjoy the scenery or group rides where you can race and try to drop your buddies and joke about it in between.

9) What is your favorite time of day to ride?
Evenings. Although the wind sometimes picks up in the afternoon, in the late evening everything calms down, you get those cool pockets of air every now and again, and the low light makes the view from the saddle that much more amazing.

10) What is your biggest goal with cycling?
To always have a smile on my face at some point during the ride. Just want to keep cycling as fun now as it has been for the past 5 years. I do have a secret desire to ride a solo century in under 5 hours. I’ve come semi-close, but still haven’t nailed that one.

11) What does an average training week look like for you?
I’ll usually ride a medium length ride on Tuesday (35-50 miles), a shorter easier ride on Wednesday (25-30 miles), a long ride Friday (75-100 miles), and maybe spin on the trainer for a few over the
weekend.

12) What do you do for training during the winter?
Ride on the stationary trainer for an hour or two a week while I watch a soccer game and then ski as much possible. It’s cross training, right? 😉

13) What do you do for nutrition on long rides?
I’ll bring along frozen burritos, clif bars, Pearson’s Nut Rolls, the occasional energy gel, and maybe even a PB&J. For every bottle of water I drink I’ll usually do one bottle of something with electrolytes as well.

Just a quick question. I am looking at the Catania or possibly the next step up (the carbon). How necessary or unnecessary is carbon in your opinion? I want to get into road biking and do similar stuff (i.e. Lotoja, centuries, etc.)

Russ Page

@Justin
I actually ride a carbon bike, and I love that it’s light but flexible. This makes a big difference on roads with even slight bumps because the carbon frame handles them better. You get better dampening in my opinion.

If you’re planning on doing long rides like LOTOJA and centuries, this makes it worth it.